To Aru Majutsu no Index: An Unexplainable Nightmare
by Tensouls
Summary: With a few simple words, with a shattered illusion and with a mindset takes a different path, a person can have a change of heart. This applies to everyone and also to him. His change of heart greatly affects the world around him. However, in the aftermath of all that change, the whole world soon found itself burned and turned devastated under his presence.
1. Prologue

**Surpriseee~, I'm back! With a...(glance sideway)...new story instead of an expected update.**

 **I guess some of my dear readers would wonder why this story is born instead of a new update for other stories. Well, everything will be explained in the note below. For now, as you have been guided here by the seemingly confusing summary and the genres, please step on the train (No! No! Not the feel train! Step on the bloody, rusty one!) and let it deliver you into a world turned devastated by "him".  
**

 **Enjoy~.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own To Aru Majutsu no Index series.**

* * *

What would it take for a normal person to change their way of thinking, to have a change of heart?

What would it take for an ordinary person to throw away their ideals of life?

What would it take for a normal high school boy to one day, in a very abruptly way, change his path from hero to villain?

It all started with a simple line of words.

Everything began with one simplest sentence that happened to be the trigger of the worst kind of feeling a normal human shouldn't have never had. Followed by an appropriate condition, thus acted as a catalyst. The forbidden chain of uncontrollable emotions could easily break.

After that, some possible scenarios might occur once the usual-self has gone:

One could become a different person.

One could become evil.

One could become a mass murderer.

And from the list of potential psychology related action, there was one more term that could top it all, accurately describing the mental state of the worst kind of existence that had ever been brought into the world.

Monster.

The worst kind of psychological way of thinking that suited the worst kind of existence could be describe as similar to a monster.

But it has never been used, no one has ever deserved of such a title.

To point it out frankly, the term itself has never existed in the domain of psychology.

It wasn't because using it would go against the concept of morality. It wasn't use partly because the world refused to let itself acknowledge the kind of existence that could easily ignore of what make a human truly a human.

So….

Let's go straight to the main topic. There was only one question available.

How did this relate or relevant to a normal high school you can find anywhere?

For someone like him…

For someone like a certain spiky haired boy, of course, such a term will never suit him.

Kamijou Touma is known as someone with a very kind soul.

He helped those who in need.

He broke illusion of those who has strayed from their righteous path.

He was just a boy who was favored by the god of misfortune and possess a very unique power hidden in his right hand.

Despite some saw the boy as a dense, idiotic, naïve person with a hidden masochist fetish (even though he didn't have one), his comrades and friends viewed him in many respected manner.

From the Magic Side, he was a hero who has stopped World War 3 with bare hand, the one who has reminded the world of what it means to be forgiven during the aftermath of the Magic God Othinus's incident.

From the Science Side, he was a valuable asset in the eyes of a certain board chairman, a dependable comrade, a good friend of those whom he has met through various circumstances in Academy City.

Then why the meaningless question that has a so obvious an answer that even a child could guess?

Yes, the answer was a definite no.

Kamijou Touma could never become such an existence.

He could never become a monster.

Then, say…..

Do you know why a person can have a change of heart?

Very simple…..

When all the missing pieces has filled in the right gap, when the right condition is triggered.

All it takes was just a few simple worlds.

" **I will ravage the world around you, destroy every little thing that you love so much."**

Kamijou once heard a man spoke those words in front of him.

Things began to change.

And in the end, an illusion was broke.

But…..

Like a malicious twisted of fate….the illusion that has been broke, **it belonged to the boy himself**.

From hero to villain, his path changed.

Never stopped at that, he descended deeper into the realm of monster, becoming one himself.

Thus, began the missing chapter, the forever forgotten story of a world turned devastated under the presence of a single high school boy who was once a hero and the savior of his own world.

An unknown timeline drowned in an unexplainable nightmare.

…..

….

…

 **[105,981,935]**

…..this is…..the last one on this shelf, huh.

Emptiness entered the gaze that directed at one last tin can appeared way deep in the back of a food shelf. Shortly after, a boy, who was staring at it with little hope, reached out his hand toward that can, taking it then looked at the price.

It was very cheap, starting from 3 digit numbers, it went down to only 2. In other words, this was used for sales, low quality kind of stuff that no one would care to buy.

In disappointment, that boy let out a small sigh.

…..a leftover…..well, I guess it's still better than having nothing to eat.

He was inside an abandoned grocery store. There was nothing else remained around him, every shelf that was once stocked with lots of food and drink had been robbed clean. Even the goods with average quality has been also taken.

When you took some time to look around, the amount of goods left behind was no more than the number of joints you can count in all five fingers from one hand.

At the moment, the lack of people and its owner has let this lace to rust and decay along with the rest of the unneeded junks.

Deserted.

Empty.

Just like the feeling enveloping him.

The boy glanced over to the window next there. Outside, the peaceful sight of what was once the most advanced city in the whole world has been replaced by many ruined buildings. Not just that, there were dust, fire and many column of smokes rose up high to the gloomy sky.

Lately, evacuations has been carried out throughout the Academy City.

Destruction happened and spread in a fast pace.

People has been desperate, no one knew exactly how it turned out like this.

Rumors has it that the source of all this outcome came from District 7, the first place where it started. They said this was caused by an esper who couldn't control their power properly and eventually that power ran wild, too much for them to handle.

Even the AIM jammers couldn't stop it. All efforts were spent in vain.

It sounded ridiculously hard to believe a single esper would cause this much trouble for the entire city aside from one of the Level 5s.

…..no point to think about it at this time.

The boy shook his head to clear off the thoughts.

Putting the tin can inside a small backpack, the boy made another detour around the place to check one last time before making his way out of the store.

Aside from the rubble, the broken glasses, the falling shelves and the ruined goods that scattered all over the floor, nothing was worth taken.

Carefully checking the cashier area, disappointment soon hit him once more time as the cash register was emptied.

….there is nothing else to look here.

Having done, he left the place.

As soon as he walked out, the ground beneath him shook many times and he stumbled on his feet.

"Ah wah!"

An earthquake was happening, he gasped and screamed as a large crack appeared on the cemented street and it kept opening bigger, stretching in every direction like a group of snakes spread out from its nest.

Didn't even have the time to react nor breathe, the boy screamed even louder and clutched his head in pain, struggling uncontrollably as if his head was about to explode when a sound came to his ear.

From somewhere, a great roar echoed.

Like a natural disaster, it broke apart the world him lived in.

Like a form of torture, it stretched longer and deeper like a pointy knife pierced through his head, twisting every parts of his brain.

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Unable to endure the madness, the pain that was crushing his mental from the inside, he screamed with all his strength, so loud, so much that tears flew out from the corner of his eyes.

As the boy helplessly lied on the ground, immobile, the surrounding began to crumble, one of the cracks entered the store he just came out and immediately the entire building collapsed. Dust and smoke flew everywhere as the run down store was reduced into rubble in a very short time, following by a thousand of explosions rampaged the whole street.

Before the boy lost all his sense as the pain intensified, an explosion occurred near him and he was knocked out cold due to the impact.

…

…

* * *

 **[6,051,993,647,281]**

 _A week ago…_

 _When the city was still peaceful under a beautiful sunny sky…_

" _Hey, have you done your homework yet?"_

 _The boy turned his head to a girl in his class._

" _What homework?" He looked at her with a big, round eyes of an innocent child._

 _The girl sighed and face palm herself._

" _This again, you forgot about it, didn't you?" Placing the note that she was bringing with her on his desk, the girl opened a particular page and pointed at the questions."Here, this is the assignment Komoe-sensei gave us yesterday. It's all in the book, you just need to write it down and learn it by heart. It doesn't take much time to finish yet you are still willing to lazing around."_

" _Aw, come on. It's not like I'm the only one who hasn't done his homework. Beside, most of the boys in this class haven't touched the book since the beginning of this semester."_

" _So you are not going to study then?"_

" _Yup! Being this way is wayyyyy more enjoyable!"_

 _The boy smiled but dropped it instantly as the girl pouted and her eyes become teary at his word. In panic, he hurriedly opened his bag and took his notebook out, flipping the right page and showed to her._

" _J-just kidding! I finished it last night!"_

 _Not convincing, she yanked the notebook out of his grasp and examined the content. A short moment later, she returned it to him with a cheerful smile accompanied her cute expression._

 _The pout and the teary eyes were all gone like it was never there. She was a very moody girl._

" _Well done!"_

 _The boy stuck out his chest with full of proud, wiping his nose. This guy was also a moody person._

" _Honestly, if you have done the homework, you should have said so. Why pretending like you forget about it?"_

" _It was just a harmless joke. I didn't expect you would actually cry."_

 _The girl pouted again and gave him a few good punches to the side for teasing her. He had to take those words back._

" _To be honest, I didn't expect you to finish the assignment this early. Normally, you would let it all piled up until weekend."_

" _Well, ever since he started skipping classes, the diversion tactic for Komoe-sensei's checking assignment session is no longer worked. I have to put in my effort to study or else I will get scolded." The boy sighed."And I really don't want sensei to look at me with those teary eyes of her, I would feel guilty. No one in this class wants to make her cry."_

" _You talked like that but didn't you feel guilty for Kamijou-kun when you and the others used him as bait to skip homework?" The girl stared at him with half-opened eyes."You all own him a great deal, what do you think would happen if one day he manages to finish his homework while you don't? Please stop being lazy and focus more on your study."_

" _Alright, alright, I'll try my best to study." The boy said nonchalantly while swaying his hand around."By the way, I don't think that day you talked about will ever happen."_

" _?"_

" _Think about it, you saw how Kamijou always comes up with some over-the-top excuses whenever he forgets to do his homework, right? I bet he is busy spreading the Kami-yan disease to build up his ideal harem day and night so he doesn't have much time to pay attention to study. At least that is the ideal the Delta Force came up with."_

" _Nonsense." The girl objected, she was clearly not amused by his remark."He did his homework properly sometime, he just didn't fill in all the answers and missed a few assignments. Komoe-sensei said so herself and you also heard it before."_

" _Then what about the excuses?"_

" _Excuses?"_

 _Seeing the girl raised her eyebrows with a confused gaze, the boy smirked and he started mimicking the spiky haired boy's voice._

" _I'm sorry sensei, my note was caught up in an explosion. I'm sorry, those cleaning robot swallowed my paper again. I'm sorry, a dog torn off half the paper so this is all I have left." He made a pose, one hand ran through his hair and the boy put on a bright smile."I'm sorry, some girls tried to confess to me last night and I totally forgot about the passage of time."_

 _ **BAM!**_

 _A chop smacked him right on the head, so strong that his face hit the desk and bounded up in a painful way._

" _That last excuse, there is no such thing. Kamijou didn't say anything like that." As he rubbed his nose to ease the pain, the stern voice of the Iron Wall girl came up next."Don't just randomly makeup something people would misunderstand."_

" _I didn't really mean it, that was just a joke!...wait, why are you raising your hand up in the air?"_

 _The boy questioned in puzzle as he watched the girl, who first asked him about his homework, raised her arm over the head and stood froze._

"… _no….it's nothing, you deserved it." She said that as she awkwardly lowered her arm._

 _She was about to hit him for that joke about the spiky haired boy but her chance wouldn't come since Fukiyose had already stepped in and punished him in her stead._

" _Kamijou maybe lazy and irresponsible but at least he is still willing to make up for his study progress with Komoe-sensei's supplementary lessons without any complain. On the other hand, you and the boys didn't put up much effort into it. Not until he absent, not until the grass grow under your feet that you finally got some motivations to get back to study."_

 _Fikuyose folded her arms underneath her plentiful chest._

" _Tell me, if Kamijou had showed up in class in the past few days, are you sure you wouldn't let all these homework pile up till the end of the week?"_

 _The boy could hardly say anything, silence was his only option to choose._

 _Just because he started focusing on study, it didn't mean he would stop being lazy. Lately, due to the absence of Kamijou Touma, the main distraction for all the checking assignment sessions in his class, he and the rest of his classmates, who hadn't touched a single homework given by Komoe-sensei, had to pick up the pace and forced their brain to work over the whole stock of assignments that heaped up till it nearly reached the ceiling._

 _They didn't want to see the loli teacher let her tears out because of their lack of study, it would be overkill if she cried. No one could resist the mysterious power lied within those tear drops of her, the power to easily pull out someone's guilt._

 _Right, some motivations they had, to avoid making their sensei cry._

 _The boy barely finished it all, but it was all due to the same reason._

" _I guess not." He put on a dried smile._

" _Then from now on, do study for real with all the effort you could spend to make up for your irresponsibility." Fukiyose spoke once more but louder, and this time she turned half way to the side as the other boys around the room was listening."You all should stop using him to cover up for your own lazybones. That is the most stupid idea ever. Show some respect to the teachers….to him."_

 _The Iron Wall girl emphasized the last part of her scolding to them. With nothing left to say, she returned to her seat as the school bell rang._

 _Everyone let her words sunk in._

" _I can't believe it, the Iron Wall girl is defending Kami-yan?! This is it, isn't it?! It finally happens!"_

" _The day the world meets its doom! The day the men, the boys, the virgins likes us will forever burden the curse of not being able to get a girlfriend is coming!"_

" _Ahhhh! This is nightmare! What should we do?!"_

 _First reactions from the boys. Totally expected._

" _Fellow comrades, do you even have to ask?!" Aogami stood up from his seat, fist shaking in pure jealousy."This isn't the time to freak out! This the time to act before it's too late! Cleanse the Kami-yan disease!"_

" _Cleanse the Kami-yan disease!"_

 _All male students in the room raised their hand, punching the air in syn. Thanks to the fetish king, more fuels were added to the fire._

" _This again. When will they decide to take a break?" The girl let out a sigh, then she turned back to the boy, staring at him in suspicious."You're not going to join them, are you?"_

" _No, I don't plan to." Surprisingly, the boy replied in earnest, not really all of them would want to start another manhunt with Kamijou as the usual target."I made up my mind, I'll try not to get involved in these guy's antic and focus more on study."_

 _The girl smiled and gave him a thumb up. In respond, he also did the same._

 _Lesson began as Komoe-sensei walked in, but not before Fukiyose took down the idiots who were desperately cursing, blaming the host of the Kami-yan disease for some controversy that the loli teacher finally got the chance to check her students' attendance._

" _Hayumu-chan?"_

" _I'm here, sensei." The boy raised his hand._

" _Hina-chan?"_

" _Yes." The girl raised her hand._

" _Himegami-chan?"_

"… _yes…." Small and quiet, Himegami timidly raised up her hand a little._

 _Each name was read out loud and a reply quickly came after. This process went on until one specific name was mentioned._

" _Kamijou-chan?"_

 _A reply never came._

" _Kamijou-kun is not here, sensei." One of the students said._

" _Eh? Kamijou-chan's absent again today?" Komoe-sensei appeared worry at this, her eyes saddened."This is already the fifth time in a row, sensei wonders if something happened to him. At this rate, Kamijou-chan will stay behind a year if he doesn't attend properly."_

" _Sensei, he didn't come to your supplementary lessons?" Another girl in class asked._

 _Komoe-sensei shook her head. In the past few days, she hadn't met him, not even the nun, who would often come to her apartment to hang around with food._

" _Maybe he is sick?" One boy spoke up, the idea seemed possible._

" _Hey, Tsuchimikado, your room is next to him, right? Do you know what happened to our targe-….I mean Kamijou-kun?"_

 _That sudden delayed in mid-sentence brought him a couple of glares from the girls._

" _Nope, no idea, nyah." The double spy with blond hair shrugged."Lately, I haven't seen Kami-yan around or even meet him at the dorm. His room is kind of quiet these days."_

 _Then what was the reason for his absence?_

 _The students started whispering to each other. None of the person here in this room, even their home room teacher, knew anything about Kamijou's reason of skipping school._

 _No one saw him._

 _No one could get in touch with him._

 _No one knew what he was up to._

 _It was almost like the boy had gone off to somewhere and disappeared._

… _...hm?_

 _While everyone was still pondering over his disappearance, Hayumu looked out the window and he was surprised._

" _Hey, it's Kamijou!" He said, pointing a finger at the familiar figure of the black spiky haired boy near the school gate._

 _Half of the classroom's population rushed to the window. Of course, half here stood for females and the boys were not amused._

 _Maybe the doomsday was really close by now._

 _Seeing the girl he just talked to stood by the window to see the spiky haired boy, a tick mark appeared on Hayumu's forehead._

… _.seriously?! Even you?!_

 _Just as he dashed out of his seat and went to her, the first words he heard from her caught his attention._

" _Wait, why didn't he carry the school bag with him?"_

" _?"_

 _Hayumu looked out the window once more._

 _Her word was truth. Kamijou Touma was standing right there next to the school gate but he didn't bring anything with him aside from the school's winter uniform and a scarf wrapped around his neck._

 _That wasn't the only strangest thing came to everyone's mind when they looked at him._

… _why is he wearing the winter uniform in the middle of summer?_

 _Hayumu thought to himself._

 _It was during summer season. Even though it was a beautiful sunny morning, the temperature was not that comfortable. The heat from the sun could easily give anybody a heat stroke if they stood to long out in the open._

 _Yet he didn't wear anything would make him feel at least a bit cooler? With that kind of clothes, he would lose a lot of waters and might even lose consciousness at any moment if not careful._

… _..maybe he was sick and forced himself to go here to properly ask Komoe-sensei for a few more days off from school? But wouldn't that be too reckless?_

 _There was a reason why cell phone was invented, you know._

" _Hey, Kamijou, what's with that outfit?" A boy walked up and leaned at the window next to Hayumu, calling the spiky haired boy."You'll get roasted if you stand in the sunlight for too long!"_

 _His tone was full of sarcasm but everyone in the room thought the same._

 _However, Kamijou didn't move. The spiky haired just stood dead in his track right there and stared at the group of people calling to him._

… _..strange….._

 _Hayumu felt something didn't sit right with that stare._

 _It was sharp, piercing._

 _It was emotionless._

 _It was…..wrong._

 _So wrong._

… _.is that…..a death glare I see from him?_

 _Much to the other's awareness, Hayumu flinched as Kamijou moved his feet toward the school building. Something was clearly not right._

 _The spiky haired boy's right hand slowly raised up in each steps he took._

 _Until…_

" _It's about time he decides to show up at school, he's going to have to study a lot more to make up for his absence." Fukiyose said in her usual stern voice with a hand brought to her chin, thinking."Maybe I should ask Komoe-sensei to have me as his temporary tutor so he won't lay back like this again."_

 _Until…_

" _Something's off. What is he doing with that-" Tsumichikado muttered at the weird atmosphere surrounded the boy but stopped as he realized it a few seconds later."Don't tell me…you have got to be kidding!"_

 _Until….._

 _That right hand was rightfully_ _ **placed in between his teeth**_ _._

" _Kami-yan! Are you insane?!"_

 _Tsuchimikado's sudden shout caught the attention of the whole room. In that moment, no one aside from Hayumu and the blonde spy could see what happened next._

 _ **There was a faint crushing sound echoed in the hot wind of summer.**_

 _ **There were many drops of blood dripped down from his mouth.**_

 _ **There was a piece of flesh fell down next to his feet.**_

 _ **Kamijou Touma had ripped off a part of his right hand.**_

" _QUICK! GET AWAY FROM THOSE WINDOWS! GET DOWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN-"_

 _That warning came out too late._

 _The ground shook. Windows shattered into a thousand of tiny, sharp pieces, cutting the skins of those who stood near._

 _Tsuchimikado was blown out in the back door of the classroom and pinned tight on the wall. As if being showed no mercy, his breathe stopped, his whole existence was forcefully erased as all the bones, the organs in his body snapped under the immense pressure of an invisible force._

 _The wall behind him appeared a massive pit with cracks imprinted in it depicted just how much cruelness Tsuchimikado's lifeless body went through. Instantly, it was paint red with the spy's blood._

… _..wha….wh…._

 _Witnessing the whole thing, Hayumu felt his heart almost stopped beating._

 _But it wasn't over._

 _Fear spread through entire school like a virus._

 _The ground beneath him began to collapse._

 _The wall next to him exploded._

 _Hayumu tried to gain back his balance and forced his leg to run out there as fast as it could, but a moment of panic had cut off his momentum. Hayumu hit the solid floor and the boy clutched his head, covered his ears so tight that he wouldn't hear anything._

… _..what the hell is going on?!_

 _He hoped this was just some nightmare. Maybe if he closed back his eyes right now, he might found himself on his comfortable bed again._

 _Hayumu immediately closed it. There wasn't much time for him to view the darkness on the other side of his eyelid until he was forced to open it after some gush of winds rushed through his body like angry waves from the sea._

 _He saw her tears. Hina, the girl who cared about him and always helped with his homework, she was crying, fear reflected deep within her eyes as it took over and let her emotions ran wild._

 _He saw a trail of red liquid substance glided down from her ears. Her ear-drum was torn by those gush of winds coming from the direction outside this wall, from where that spiky haired boy stood and he did not dare to peek through the window to see what caused it._

 _He saw the horrific scene around her. Some students had fell through to crack and hit the floor below. Some students were screaming uncontrollably. Some was praying for their dear life as it their reason for living was about to be taken away._

 _He saw his home room teacher was knocked out of consciousness by a debris fell right on her tiny head._

 _He saw the Iron Wall girl and the girl with a hime cut hairstyle were hugging each other out of fear._

 _He saw the fetish tried to make a run toward the door, but the ceiling collapsed right on top him. The blue haired boy was buried alive inside a pile of bricks._

 _And….._

 _He saw it behind Hina. Something wavy-like was moving toward her. It came in from a big hole on the wall._

 _Hayumu couldn't mutter a sound. A strange pressure was suffocating him, tickling every cells in his body like it was trying to break him apart._

… _.help!_

 _Two red orbs appeared in mid-air._

"… _k….r….n.." Hayumu's throat was barely functioning._

… _..someone! Help!_

 _Fangs stuck out, visible from the unknown thing._

"… _.r…..n…."_

 _One dropped of saliva fell on her hair, yet the girl was barely aware of it, she was too afraid to do anything._

… _..run! Hina!_

 _Hayumu wanted to scream. He tried to move. That wavy-like thing was about to attack her._

 _No, he was wrong. With a swift motion, it stretched further beyond her place._

 _Like sweeping an insect, it jaw pushed the girl out of its way and she was stuck underneath it, in between the ground and an existence that beyond her understanding._

 _Much to his shock, that thing moved past her._

 _It was onto him._

… _what are yo-…stop!_

 _Having no way to escape, Hayumu watched the wavy-like thing opened its mouth and slowly lurked at him._

"… _c…..om….ar."_

… _.DON'T COME NEAR ME!_

 _And the boy could only watch in hopeless as the pointy, sharp head of the fangs pressed on his body, slowly digging deeper into his skin._

 _In the next second, everything went dark._

* * *

 **[92,594,713]**

…

… _.._

"AH!"

Hayumu woke up with a jolt, smoke and dirt in his view. The boy forced himself to sit up, struggling a little bit as the numb feeling was all over his body.

…..what…that was a nightmare just now?

Taking a moment to calm down from the horrible dream, he looked around and found himself inside an area with round structure like a tube stretched out to two directions.

…this place is…..the sewer?

The boy shifted his view to above his head. There was a large hole up there, with a few tiny cracks ran through the ceiling giving you the feeling like it was about to collapse at any moment.

The boy realized he fell through that hole. There was an explosion occurred near him and because of that he was blown away, a part of the street crumbled down and he ended up here.

…my head's hurt…..

A headache struck him, must have been because of that inhuman roar from earlier. Hayumu rubbed his head in hope to ease the tingling pain, as he did he found his forehead was covered in sweat. The fear he felt from that nightmare has got to him, so bad that he could feel his hand still shaking even now he was fully awake.

The ground shook once more, small dirt and debris fell down from the underground ceiling. All the thin lines of crack widened as another series of explosion bombarded the surface.

"?!" Hayumu quickly covered his ears as an invisible wave rushed through his body, punching him in the ear-drum.

There it was, the inhuman roar that torn apart the earth. Not as intense as before but the torturing sound kept radiating for a while before everything went back to silence.

….I need to get out of here.

After enduring the quake and waiting for it to pass, it was about time Hayumu decided to find his way out of the sewer. He went through his bag, which found lying near there, and look for a flashlight.

But another problem arose.

….it broke?!

The object had a crack ran over the body, the impact from that fall must have been quite bad.

"Tch, guess I have no other option." Clicking his tongue, Hayumu opened his palm and concentrated the calculations in his mind.

Shortly after, a bright, burning light appeared at the center of his hand. It enlarged and became a ball of fire. He was a Level 2 esper with Pyrokinesis power.

….this is probably enough.

Hayumu shined his surrounding with the flame that floated gently above his palm. The flame in the tennis ball-shaped produced a good amount of light for him to know where to place his next step in the dark sewer.

Carefully, he trailed along the path.

…

…

* * *

 **[Between the line]**

That dream, that nightmare…..

What he saw in it, everything was not much different from what he could remember about a week ago.

Nothing could cause so much fear equaled to those emotions struck him within that dream he just had.

Not long before, just a week ago, everything was still normal.

But now, everything has changed.

Things happened, things came up so fast and so abruptly that no one could have the time to foresee it.

For now, let's review back again what has happened so far in this world covering in dark clouds and gloomy atmosphere.

Hayumu remembered.

It all started with a vague rumor about an incident where an esper who couldn't control their power during some kind of secret experiment in District 7 and let it run loose like a wild beast as they could not handle it.

The reason why it happened was still unknown, even for the authorities.

Knowing the experiment has failed and the potential danger it contained, the entire Academy City raised the alert to the highest level.

From there, multiple evacuations began.

And starting from that time, Academy City, from the most advanced city in the world with the population of at least 2.3 million figures now nearly reduced into a ruin with only a few hundreds remained.

During those evacuations, many measures has been thought of and carried out to stop the insane rampage of that esper's power. But eventually, all of it was for none, all the efforts spent were in vain.

That power was too great, too destructive.

Because of that, among the residences, more and more rumors appeared from various sources.

Most believed someone among the Level 5s has finally achieved the next Level 6 as it was above the benchmark which proved so much of a danger that could easily destroy an entire army alone.

To make the comparison becomes clearer, let's put it like this on a threat scale.

If Level 5 is the extent of the danger that can rival a military force, then Level 6 is the extent of the danger that can surpass an imminent global disaster.

A Level 6 has been born, many started to believe in that rumor. Some deemed it as the truth due to the damage that being has caused to the whole world.

Finally, that kind of rumor became the truth as the Board of Directors decided to let out their voice for the uneasy matter. However, it wasn't one of the Level 5s that achieved the domain of god, it was someone else entirely new, an existence nobody has ever heard of or aware. The government explained they will find out a way to put an end to this potential threat, therefore, the new esper's identity was kept secret.

For that, despite the evacuations and dried situation Academy residences were put in, many began to feel at ease.

Eventually, the result….the consequence was….beyond horrifying.

Right now, the world is facing the greatest threat it has never encountered before.

Many cities across the globe has been turned into ruins.

Many were abandoned.

Many were left devastated.

Casualty exceeded almost half of the world's population.

There was more. For examples….

More than 60% of the landmarks in England has sunk into the depth of the ocean, including London.

Russia became the world's largest wasteland.

America and Europe were now home to a great number of ruins.

The entire planet was put in such an unbelievably critical state and it was all because of an esper who couldn't control their power ability.

Everyone believed that.

….wrong…

Hayumu used to believe that.

…all lies.….

It was a set up.

It was the mask that hid away the true face.

It was something they came up with just to cover the true story.

Everything they said was a diversion, using some baseless rumors as a shield to distract everyone from the potential threat that has took away many lives.

In fact, the truth event that took place was not about an idiot who didn't even understand and fail to handle his own Personal Reality.

There was no such thing as a Level 6 esper has been born.

What had happened, what truly transpired in the beginning was a bloodcurdling incident. An event that can be described as a punch in the gut for the government of Academy city and a hellish nightmare for the citizens who lived within it.

Hayumu trembled.

…about a week ago…..

Yes, just about a week ago…

A massacre occurred in the heart of District 7.

Very sudden, in the middle of broad daylight, right in a busy street, the life of every unfortunate persons who was just casually doing their morning routine by walking to their work places, their schools, their research facilities were all forcefully took away after a piercing roar.

The darkest moment of Academy City happened so fast that in no more than a few minutes, hundreds of lives were murdered in cold blood.

Not just the street, the people in the buildings nearby also shared the same dreadful fate. Some structures were completely destroyed, a part of the street cracked open and blown up. Trees torn apart, body fragments littered everywhere.

In the aftermath, everything was decimated, nothing survived and not a single thing was in their original shape.

Despite the grave situation, Judgment and Anti-Skill were forbidden to investigate, no one was allowed to approach the crime scene. Mysteriously, every information or evidences related to this madness was kept in the dark, vanished later on.

To make it more difficult, no witness was at the screen during the crime.

….because no one came out alive…..

Hayumu sighed and narrowed his eyes.

…actually…..

It wasn't like Judgment and Anti-Skill were forced to look away from this.

It was more like they knew nothing of this mass murder incident. Nobody told them, from the info to the evidence, they hadn't heard anything about it.

That event attracted a lot of attention, yet the details were soon cleared out…..or to be more precisely, wiped out.

….the incident was hid from them, from everyone….

Then, starting from that point, things kept getting worst.

* * *

 **[85,058,341]**

…

…

"Ah, finally, a way out."

A small sigh of relief came from Hayumu as he found the ladder lead back to the surface. Disintegrating the fireball in his palm, the boy began climbing it and opened the manhole cover.

Standing on the deserted street once again, he took a deep breath and looked around to see where that sewer from earlier directed him to.

….that's right…this place….

The boy fell into silence and let his gaze slowly shifted from one places to another, he recognized the place.

Destroyed buildings.

Desolated street.

Broken sideways.

Bloodstained and decay walls.

What he saw, where he stood firm to let the view sunk into the depth of his memory.

This was the place where the incident took place, the location where the darkest moment of Academy City started.

….those red marks, they haven't cleaned all the blood spot yet…..

Paint in the rusty color of the red liquid's oxidation, the sight of what was once a busy street of District 7 now abandoned gave him a chilling feel ran down his spine.

Hayumu didn't known how the cleanup process was carried out but apparently, it didn't make it to the end. Most of the corpses were secretly took care of, but a few still remained here with the blood trails.

A little far away, what was left of the destroyed Windowless Building can be seen bathed in smoke and fire.

Everything crumbled within just one week.

And all was done by one individual.

Hayumu took a cell phone out from his pocket and looked over the list of pictures saved in it. He began moving toward one particular spot on the broken-down street then raised up the screen to his view.

In the picture, half of a bloody face of a boy who seemed to desperately keep his eyes open from fading out into one long slumber was showed in a corner of the small screen. Although he wasn't looking directly at the screen during the time the picture was taken, one could see fear expressed deeply in those tired eyes of his.

He was in hiding, trying to erase his presence from the thing that caused him to slowly feel the cold grasp of the Reaper's hand.

In the center of the picture, there was a figure standing far away in the middle of the street that grown a bouquet of blood and destruction everywhere.

The figure wore the outfit somewhat similar to Hayumu's school design, a dark pant and a jacket inside a black hoodie. The white hood was pulled over the head with the figure's back facing against the direction where the boy took cover and took a sneak shot at it.

Another significant feature was that this figure's right arm was exposed.

That was all.

This picture was the last moment of the boy with a bloody face in the corner of the screen before he took his last breath and forever never respond to Hayumu's callings and messages after he had sent the boy the truth of what had happened on that day one week ago.

…Takagi…..

A friend and a member of the Judgment, Takagi was one of the unfortunate victims died in the massacre. The figure in the center of the screen here was responsible for his death.

…..all because of this….monster.

Hayumu cursed.

The boy quickly shook his head to discard the negative thought. There was no time for him to idly stand here and blame the culprit. If he has stumbled upon this place by chance then there is one thing he needs to do and he should focus on it.

"…...etou, the spot where he took this picture should be…" Hayumu traced through the details of the scenery and he stopped at an alleyway filled with rubbles."…..right here…."

His friend, Takagi, lost his life right in this corner of the street with the bloody handprints made a long trail from the ground to the wall. Takagi must had tried to drag his wounded body to this place and got himself leaned on the wall to take a short break without knowing he won't be able to open his eyes again.

Hayumu moved a few of the rocks locking the path and an armband of Judgment was found lying beneath one.

"Hey, I got the message from you." Said the boy in a low voice as he kneeled down next to the armband."Sorry for taking a whole week to reach here, a lot of crazy things happened and nothing has ever been the same."

The boy slowly shifted his eyes to the pile of rubbles in front of him. Hayumu reached out his hand toward it but in hesitation, he retracted it. He knew Takagi's bodies was buried underneath these rocks right in front of him.

"I didn't know what to do by the time I see it, the picture and the last email you sent me." Hayumu opened the email and looked at the content."You told me to get this picture to both Anti-Skill headquarter and Judgment 177 Branch office, notify them that there is a serial killer lurking around District 7."

At the time, Hayumu was confusing but he did followed what his friend told him.

"I tried to let them know what happened to you."

But…

"But somehow, they still don't know what was going on. I tried to inform the teachers, but words fell on deaf-ears, even Yomikawa-sensei didn't have a clue that such a cruel event actually took place. Nothing makes sense. By the time I decided to do it by myself….." Hayumu's expression turned stiffed, a small drop of water lingered in the corner of his eyes."Everything has been destroyed."

Someone didn't want the truth to go out in public. And in the end, this scenario was the consequence of their action.

"Many districts in this city has been destroyed, many countries around the world were turned upside down, burned in chaos. All of that happened within just one week, sounds ridiculous, isn't it?"

Almost too unreal, but that was the truth. That was the reality he lived in.

"Right now, the alert system is probably still Code Red but I don't think anyone would give a damn about it, no…n-not anymore."

Hayumu stammered.

Emotions built up in him, making the boy afraid to let it out. Because if he did, tears would flow.

…..ah…..damn it, my eyes got all watery.

"It's so strange, today I'm supposed to go to school together with Hina but that place somehow blew apart while we was studying during Komoe-sensei's lesson. I didn't know how, but some of us made it out alive and I'm no longer a student."

Wiping his teary eyes, Hayumu grabbed the armband and put it inside his backpack.

"Most of the people remained in this city are survivors and now they're taking shelter at some districts near the city's outskirt. The Board of Directors are all gone, order collapsed so currently we don't have anyone else to depend on. Nothing to do aside from waiting for the next evacuation."

Hayumu opened wide the zip on his pack, searching for some stuff he brought with him.

"I didn't want to just sit in one spot and wait to be rescued so I wandered around the city to find foods and drinks then bring it back to the safe zone."

An empty bottle was placed on the ground.

"There has been many occasions when Skill-Out started their uprising in the past few days, but luckily, their group was wiped out with some helps from higher level espers and the remained force of Anti-Skill."

The boy took a pause as he poured water into the bottle.

"Ah, talk about the higher level espers. Recently, the Level 5s seemed to have disappeared altogether, no one heard anything from them ever since. So…..the rumor about the beetle you used to read on the urban legend website also ran out of its charm. At this time, even if I scream…" Hayumu took a deep breath."HELP ME, RHINOCEROS BEETLE!"

His voice echoed all the way to the sky filled with dark clouds.

By doing so…nothing arrived after a moment of waiting.

"No one will come to my aid even if I scream as loudly as I can until my throat dries."

From his backpack, Hayumu pulled out a small bouquet, a rather fresh one. He picked one with white color and put the flower inside the bottle, thus completed a temporary grave marker.

"I found these when I went into School Garden to look for supplies, there was no one else there so it was pretty easy to set your foot into the forbidden place for us boy." The boy put on a wry smile." I achieved the thing that every man dream of but I don't feel any happy at all, not one bit. That place is a ruin now."

…..and I hope Hina wouldn't be angry at me when I tell her about it.

"Anyway, there is no time for proper burial so this is the least I can do for you. After this, both me and Hina will leave Academy City and we will never return back here ever again. No one is going to visit you when this city is abandoned. That's why…if….if ghost is actually existed in this world like you once said and if you are watching me right here then I hope you will move on." Hayumu clasped his hand together and spent a full minute closing his eyes."Please rest in peace, Takagi."

Done praying, Hayumu stood up and worn his backpack.

"Farewell."

Speaking one final world to his lost friend, the boy turned around and walked away without looking back.

As the boy left, the place once again welcome the silence.

Inside the bottle, the while flower gently waved in little hope its existence would comfort the lost when a small breeze came by.

/

* * *

Well then…..

Now you knew.

Through the view of a survivor, you have been informed of what happened throughout the whole world.

The story begins this far, in a very abrupt way and you are the witnesses.

From this point onward, this will be the beginning of an end.

Remember it, because you can only watch how the world struggles with its little hope before Armageddon approaches.

There is nothing you can do to interfere with the course of actions in this forgotten story.

It is futile.

The roles have changed.

Very soon, the curtain will close as this timeline is reaching its end.

All due to the change of heart of a certain spiky haired boy…

...

 **Prologue: A_Distant_Timeline_In_RUINS**

* * *

 **Author's note: And there you have it.**

 **The train delivered you into the middle of a tragedy still occuring as each seconds past in that world. Dear readers, by the time you have reached to this note, you may have realized the one truth that burdened this alternative timeline. We all know how that spiky haired boy is troubled by many things in his life and not many of it has been merciful to him. The phrases, the reason World Rejecter was born, the misfortune, the memories lost and his childhood. He is always suffered at some points but comes out smiling at the end like he just leaves it all behind and acts like nothing happened. In my opinion, he smiles and he brought the smile to everyone's face. He does that to everyone but sadly, he has never directed his own smile toward himself.** ** **Kamijou is kind as he takes the responsibility from everything that resolve around his Imagine Breaker, but if** you view it in a different way, his kindness and his ideals of life is what making him endure the suffering.  
**

 **That's why, I have been wondering, what would happen if he throws everything away? What would happen if he keeps moving forward without his kindness and the ideals of life?**

 **Well, I assume things wouldn't have never been that bad like what you had read above in the prologue. But, if we add in the formula an shattered illusion variable, we would have the following: shattered illusion + heartless + insane = monster (?) (hm, doesn't seem much legit, does it?)  
**

 **Ok, I'll stop my nonsense right here (embarrassed). However, truely, this is what I have been wondering. If Kamijou suddenly has a change of heart plus his whole reason to protect what he has always believed in broke into a thousand pieces, his mindset could have taken a dangerous turn.**

 **This is an idea I thought of and I have been storing it in the back of my mind for a long time after I finished reading the nightmare he experienced in both the Alpha and Omega Worlds. So in a way, this timeline exists partly because of the two questions above and another reason that I will reveal in the final chapter when this story comes to an end. (still, the latter is the most important.)**

 **To sum up the whole point, this story was born to experiment and explore the part where the roles changes. And the truth that An Unexplainable Nightmare timeline is undergoing:**

 **-He is no longer the one who's suffered, it is the world that's suffered by his change.  
**

 **Since this is a former one chapter idea that I expanded in order to explore that change, this story will definitely last about 5 or 7 chapters. Reasons? Well, like I said (wrote?) above, "the latter is the most important", you will know when the story ends.**

 **Now, as for the characters. Kamijou is not the main character in this story, he is the main reason for what happened to the world. You won't see the world keeps turning devastated through his view, you will see how things will end through the views of the survivors of his and Imagine Breaker's rampage.**

 **About the survivor in this chapter, the OC Hayumu and the deceased OC Takagi: I prefer to use someone you don't know of for the purpose of explaining the current situation, the current result of Kamijou who has gone "insane". By now you also realized that, Kamijou went on a rampage but Hayumu has no idea that his classmate is the one responsible. Due to "someone" in the Windowless Building is desperately trying to hide the existence lies dormant inside IB away from the world. And the consequence for that is the current state of the world that Hayumu is facing.**

 ** **This story won't just unfolds based on the OC's perspective but also the characters you are all familiar with. The OC is just a way to get some fresh air and when I mean by fresh air..(point up)..look at the [horror], [tragedy] tag.****

 ** **One moment I have wondered if one week is too fast for the world to crumble under his presence but I guess I don't have worry about that because: cold blood = zero hesitation (my opinion, ok.). If I raise IT and the dragons' cruelness (if the dragons truly are cruel.) meter to maximum adding in its insane wielder, destruction is probably spread faster than wild fire.****

 **Another thing, at some points in the prologue and maybe the story, I don't know if I depicted the violence scenes more vivid than the T rating is allowed so if it disturbs you and if you feel like it's necessary, please tell me to change the rating into M. I don't know what the heck was in my mind when I wrote those scene, probably got influenced by the recently released horror games.**

 ** ** **Lastly, about the [number]. Well, it changes randomly according to the timeline but...****** ** ** ** ** ** **(chuckle evilly)...if you have already guessed what's those numbers represent for then you are probably right. They are a part of the reasons why the [horror] tag was chosen.  
************

 ** ** **Well, that's about it. What do you think?  
******

 ** ** **This story is a change of fresh air I want to make to express my concern regarding the reasons above and to invite you into a whole new roller coaster that will give you a different feeling from the atmosphere in The Lost Light.  
******

 ** ** **The train will stop here, review the story if you please. I'll see you again the next note.******


	2. Nightmare-Of-Sphinx

**WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER IS M RATED FOR GORE AND BLOOD CONTENT.**

 **I'm back! Sooner than I thought I would. Before we going into another trip, I would like to say a few things relate to the warning above and the content of this chapter. As you can already tell, this story is basically a combination of horror and tragedy stories from many perspectives of every character in the To Aru world and they experience it due to the change of heart of a certain spiky haired boy. Some scenarios in the story might be a little bit too much or even disturbing so I just want give you a head-up first and this time I will apply that to this one chapter. Yes, you have been warned.**

 **About this chapter, it is definitely short and chapters like these will mostly based on the character you know and describe the emotions, the insight view they have toward Kamijou's change of heart. Since this is an experiment story, I don't plan to make these chapters long as it just to explain enough what happened to them during his rampage, both before and after. By the way, last time I did say that this will definitely last about 5 - 7 chapters, didn't I?...uh...well, this idea suddenly came to my head so let's forget about that numbers. (embarassed)  
**

 **Rafael Da Silva: right, about the second number, I intent to use the comma for that one because when I saved the document while using dot instead of comma, the first ten numbers was automatically deleted by the editor. I don't know the reason why it happened so I decided to just stick to comma. Thank you for telling me, from now on I should just use comma instead of dot for these numbers.**

 **As you said so, this story could be hard to swallow since this is about a hero decided to change his way of life and make everyone around him know what is feel like to experience hell on earth. The theme is pretty dark and this story won't end on a happy note, that is a fact. It might not suit to the liking of many readers so that's why I want this to be an experiment story, partly to explore character and add in another important explanation to the other...yes, for now, it's just to explore.**

 **vietnamese guy: thanks bro, but worry not, I usually go at my own pace so I'm kinda having fun writing these stories, no pressure and no overwork, just pure fun.**

 **Anyway, enjoy~.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own To Aru Majutsu No Index series.  
**

* * *

 **Through_their_VIEW, IT_reveals  
**

 _ **NIGHTMARE_**_ ** _Of_** _ **_**_ **Sphinx**

 _On a certain night….._

 _Around the time that Academy City residences had gone to their sleep._

 _A feline named Sphinx was doing the same as he lied comfortably on top the bookshelves that neatly fit into one corner of the room. In the middle of the night, everything was still, dead silence. But the tiny breathing noise of a certain young nun on the bed could always be heard in the cat's sensitive ears._

 _Like a gentle lullaby, Index's cute sound when she was sleeping made the calico cat feel at peace and it was good. Not to mention a doll sized girl was leaning on his side, taking his fur as a pillow._

 _The night was peaceful, like usual. The cat enjoyed it._

 _However, that enjoyment quickly came to an end as the bathroom door in the kitchen made a creepy creaking sound._

 _Curiosity tickled all five senses, Sphinx woke up and stared at the door slowly opened._

 _The annoyed creaking sound stopped ringing. A certain spiky haired boy walked out the bathroom in silence._

 _In a moment, the cat noticed its owner's walking figure seemed staggered and acted strangely. For some reason, Kamijou the owner was clutching a side of his head with his right hand. The scowl on his expression made it looked like he was experiencing some sort of severe pain._

 _Sphinx observed the boy in pure silence as Kamijou stood in the kitchen for quite a while before he steadily turned his head toward the feline's sleeping spot and the nun on the bed. It felt like he was checking on them._

 _Cold sweat was dripping on his forehead, something was happening to him, something unexplainable._

 _With a small sigh let out as he watched Index sleeping soundly, he turned to the cat._

 _The calico cat flinched when the eyes contact was made._

 _Somehow, Sphinx had this thrilled feeling crawling up and down on his spine while he stared straight into his eyes. There was something different about it. Those eyes of his owner were abnormal. They were red, blood vessels expanded all over the surface._

 _A sharp, white slit was visible and it can be seen in the place where the pupil should have been. The color of his iris also disappeared._

 _No, it changed._

 _Instead of the color of a bright yet deep blue sea, his iris now carried the darkest shade of a pitch black night sky._

" _..ah….i_ _ **t**_ _'s ju_ _ **S**_ _t…..yo_ _ **u**_ _, S_ _ **p**_ _h_ _ **I**_ _nx." Sphinx the calico cat heard his owner mumbling something like that under his breath._

 _His voice was cold, deep. He spoke in the kind of low-key tone that made it sounded like his throat was awfully dried and something was stuck inside it._

 _Breaking the eyes contact, just like that, he turned away, ignoring the calico cat's presence. Unexpectedly, his hand reached toward a sharp knife placed next to those unwashed dishes._

 _Holding the object firmly in his hand, the boy stared down at the pointy tip that shot out a gleaming light into his abnormal eyes. Almost as if it was captivating him, telling him to use it right at that moment._

 _Sphinx kept staring, all he could see was that his owner pointed that sharp knife right at his own face. One thing the cat didn't aware and probably never really saw it coming._

 _It was a horror sight._

 _The knife that spiky haired boy often used to make food for everyone in this room was right now thrusting deep into his face, by his own hand. Kamijou carved that knife into his flesh, his left cheek which was hidden from the cat's view. The calico cat's owner had accepted the dangerous temptation from what supposed to be a harmless thing in his hand._

 _The sound of a human's skin being peeled off echoed loudly in Sphinx's ears and it happened non-stop._

 _The cat was petrified. But unfortunately, the disturbance won't just consist of that one noise._

 _As he was hurting himself, Kamijou grinded his teeth in pain while he endured. What could be heard from that was not a pleasant thing to listen, yet Sphinx's sensitive ears refused to ignore it. The cat was forced to hear those horrible sounds for a while until the boy decided to stop his torturous act._

 _Finally, he did stopped. But the cat came out completely horrified with his hair raising all over his body._

"… _da_ _ **M**_ _n it….th_ _ **is**_ _ **I**_ _s_ _ **no**_ _g_ _ **o**_ _od…." Quietly mumbled again Kamijou Touma._

 _In exhaustion, the spiky haired boy leaned toward the kitchen sink. The wet, deep red liquid glided down his cheek, dripping onto the cold floor in small drops as the boy tried to control his heavy breaths. That knife he held now became bloody but the boy didn't seem to have any intention of letting it go._

 _The place where he stabbed the pointy head of that object on his face, Sphinx couldn't see it well but the cat knew his night vision had never played a trick on him. He could smell the blood._

 _The horror wasn't over yet though._

 _Kamijou grabbed the tip of the peeled off skin that was hanging halfway on his left cheek and without a moment of hesitation, he pulled._

 _On the verge of his endurance stepped over the edge of limit, Sphinx was ready to run out of there right that instant. It didn't matter if he had to let the doll sized girl, who was sleeping on his side, hit her head on the ground, he just wanted to get away from that insane owner of his and this nightmare as fast as possible._

 _But thank goodness, Kamijou still got some sane left to consider and realize what he was doing. He stopped his trembling hands before he could tear off a part of his face as he noticed the frightened look Sphinx directed at him._

"… _.so_ _ **rRy**_ _,_ _Sphinx…." There was regret in his eyes when he said those words to the calico cat._

 _Kamijou staggered back into his tub in the bathroom, bringing the knife along with him. The door began closing behind him as he weakly grabbed the doorknob and once again distanced himself from the rest of the world in that small room._

 _The nightmare came to an end._

 _However, after seeing all of that, Sphinx could never sleep well for the rest of the night._

… _.._

… _._

 _Morning came._

 _Sphinx sat in front of the bathroom, staring at the door in curious. The time was still early in the morning, Sun had just risen. Therefore, the other two freeloaders were not going to wake up anytime soon._

 _The calico cat was tired, but he waited in patience._

 _Despite what he had seen last night, Sphinx still felt worried for his owner._

 _As a cat, his senses were very sensitive. The enhanced abilities of an indoor predator gave him a better understanding toward his home. His nose had been tickling for a while by a dense, rusty smell from behind the door. It smelled the same as these dried bloodstains on the floor behind him, the blood that fell down from Kamijou's torn left cheek._

" _Nya~."_

 _A water splashing sound came to his ear, Sphinx moved closer to the door frame and kept his nose under the small gap. He could smell a sweet odor of shampoo on the other side._

 _That spiky haired boy seemed to be in the middle of an early shower in the morning, a rather rare sight for someone who always complaint about misfortune and always goes to class late._

 _For his owner to wake up this soon, something about that boy was changing. At the time, Sphinx never knew what kind of change that was._

 _The door opened, causing the pet cat to jolt and jumped back._

 _Kamijou stood there, looking at the calico cat while he cleaned his soaked hair with a towel._

" _Hm? Sphinx, I didn't know you would wake up this soon in the morning." The boy spoke as he hang the towel on his shoulder. Surprisingly, his tone was a lot different than last night._

 _It was normal and so did his eyes. The white, vertical slit in his pupil had gone and it was covered in the usual, deep blue sea color instead of the dark one._

" _Are you feeling hungry? I'm going to start making breakfast right now since I woke up a little bit sooner than expected."_

 _The cat stared at him in silence._

" _What's wrong? Is there something you want to say to this Kamijou-san?"_

 _Kamijou bended down in an attempt to pat the cat's head but in an instance, his action was rejected._

" _Hisss!" Sphinx the calico cat hissed._

 _He was lying._

 _Even though Sphinx's eyesight was poor during the day, but the cat could tell his owner's eyes was swollen with bags appeared under them. A bandage was on his left face, slightly wet._

 _He didn't sleep at all, he stayed up through the whole night. The hand he stretched out toward the cat to give a pat, even though it had been washed, it still reeked a faint smell of blood. In the corner of his eyes, Sphinx saw the knife on the floor._

 _Hell, and here he hoped he just saw a nightmare, turned out it was real._

"… _.ah, I scared you last night, didn't I?" Kamijou smiled wryly as he went and picked up the kitchen tool."Sorry, I didn't mean to. There was some issue I need to take care of."_

" _Nya!" (What kind of issue requires you to peel off your skin?!) Was what the cat meowed or retorted for its own sake to question the boy's mental stability._

 _As it he would understand his language, but the cat didn't care, last night was too much too handle. For an owner to treat his pet like that, he needed to take responsible for Sphinx's sleepless night._

 _The cat kept meowing non-stop, Kamijou didn't know what those vocalizations mean so he walked past Sphinx and threw the knife in a trash can._

 _The towel on his shoulder, he took it to clean the dried bloodstains on the floor. After that, the slightly red towel was also going into the trash can like the one before._

 _The boy acted so nonchalant like nothing happened. It gave you the feeling that bandage he put there on his cheek was just a decoration._

 _Kamijou dusted off both hands and strangely stared at Sphinx._

" _Sphinx, are you afraid of me?" he asked with his right hand slowly went toward the cat's direction._

 _Sphinx took back a few steps and continued hissing, he didn't like the rusty smell coming from Kamijou's hand, not at all._

 _Just what did this boy do in the bathroom last night with that knife?_

 _Kamijou remained silence at Sphinx's reaction. Without anything to say from both sides, he turned to the kitchen and started cooking._

 _The cat earned an early breakfast that day._

 _By the time he finished his meal, the young silver haired nun had woke up and her stomach rang as the delicious smell rose all over the room._

" _Touma, is breakfast ready?!" Never mind the manner, Index quickly rushed into the kitchen. Her eyes shined and sparkled while she looked at Kamijou with full of expectation._

 _In return, the boy gave her a blank look, not at her face but at the state of her pajama._

" _Hey, Index."_

" _What is it?"_

" _I know you are excited and all about the food but mind what you are wearing after you woke up for me."_

" _?"_

 _Index stared down at herself. Her shirt was loosened, revealing a side of her shoulder, which caused her cheek to redden and she didn't wear any pant. The sight embarrassed Index to no end and it didn't help her much that she realized it was on the bed._

 _Covering herself and the pure white undergarment displayed in broad daylight, Index's face became like that of a tomato. She bit her lip and looked at the boy with her eyes narrowed, pouting._

 _Kamijou didn't really care what she was doing though. He was deadpanned._

" _You know, Index. It's okay if you start having a habit of showing your skin during your sleep, they do say that human are mostly free to their desire when dreaming." He was clearly misunderstood."I don't know how in the world things become like this to you but to me, I'm fine with it. If you want to be an exhibitionist like Othinus then I won't stop you, I don't have the right to do that."_

 _A "I heard that, human!" came from somewhere on the bookshelves. Regardless, Kamijou continued._

" _Of course, I said I'm fine but it's not like there aren't any restrictions to how much you want to get back to our ancestor's lifestyle. There is just one thing I want to say….." Kamijou gently rubbed Index's head."Try not to catch a cold while you are wearing like that."_

 _Later on, instead of the alarming clocks, a sudden scream woke up all the residents in District 7._

 _Standing on a side, Sphinx watched his owner entered his normal routine of the day with the young nun, who was giving the boy a good bite on the head._

 _What happened last night didn't make sense. Right now, he acted just like how he usually would._

" _Hm? Touma, your hair smell like shampoo. Did you just take a bath?"_

" _Heh? Year, I did. What about it?"_

" _This smell…..Touma! This is my shampoo!" She bit him harder._

" _I'm sorry, Kamijou-san was in a pinch so he didn't have much choice! Ouch! Ouch! Such misfortuneeeeee!"_

 _Sphinx wondered, at least he was still the same owner like the cat knew he would. Maybe last night was a dream that mixed up with reality. A cat could dream but it didn't happen often so the confusion might have took place._

" _What's with that bandage on your cheek, human?" Othinus the former Magic God asked as she sat on top the bookshelves._

" _Oh, this." Kamijou touched the bandage on his left cheek."I was careless and cut myself last night."_

 _He didn't lie, but the way he phrased it didn't seem right either._

 _The calico began making its way toward the group of residents he had lived with. It was confusing but maybe it was alright to let that nightmare past and forget about it._

 _There was something strange about his owner yet his normal antic and reaction didn't change much. It all went like how it would usually go._

 _Sphinx decided he could trust in Kamijou Touma one more time to be under his care._

 _Hopefully, this life the cat shared with them will not be changed, not by the horror he saw yesterday._

 _..._

* * *

 **[2,956,327,415,080]**

On the sky, a powerful bloody-red beam of light shot down from above the clouds. Before the beam could make an impact with the surface, a sound similar to a broken glass echoed and the massive column of red light disappeared almost instantly.

Several thousand waves of 50 arrows each appeared next and rained down the sky like a heavy downpour. However, like the attack from before, every single arrow was dispelled with just a simple sweep of a right hand.

From afar, in a city burned in flame, standing on one of many pile of rubbles, the calico cat watched the inevitable battle between the two persons he was closest to. Somewhere in the distant clouds, a silver haired girl with angelic wings behind her back kept sending down her magic spell continuously without a stop.

Hence, somewhere behind many broken down streets and buildings, a certain spiky haired boy casually made his way through the desolate paths while he blocked the angel's offensive magic. The boy never took a moment of hesitation to cease her attack effortlessly and unleash the power within his right hand to fight back the girl.

He was on the defensive, the tide of that battle made it pretty much clear to those who witnessed it, including the cat. Yet, little did they know, it was the angelic silver haired girl who was on the defensive. She threw countless high-class magic spells at the monster, who made a havoc of the entire region in less than a day, just so he won't find the opportunity to drag her down from the sky.

The angel couldn't defeat him. For that reason, this fight was more or less a one-sided battle.

Sphinx the calico cat gave a sudden jolt at the shaking ground beneath his feet. One moment, the air was suddenly twisted. People who was trying to get away from the death zone where the battle took place all collapsed on the street.

Somehow, no one could breathe, their throat was strangled like fish on land as if oxygen in the air has been completely drained.

Lying on the floor with a weak lung, Sphinx forced himself to stand up on its four leg. But his body didn't listen, it felt like the gravity just become heavier.

Shortly after, the cat succumbed to its fate and passed out.

In his view, the last sight he caught….

The angelic silver haired nun fell down from the sky with her wings made of magic slowly disintegrated into many particles of light.

…..

...

 **[2,956,327,403,472]**

He thought he could trust his owner.

He thought nothing would change even after seeing that terrifying act of the boy.

He thought it was alright to ignore and forget about that night.

How sad and mistaken those thoughts was.

Sphinx opened his eyes and woke up, his body was tattered with cuts and dirty.

Aside from the burning flame across the streets, the air was dead silence. The battle was over but the outcome was unknown.

The cat decided to go see what happened to his owner and the young nun. He moved down the street. While on its way to the destination, Sphinx saw the sight of many bodies lying lifelessly on the cold ground filled with dust and ashes.

They were all gone, no one survived the hypoxia. By a miracle, he was the luckiest one to still be breathing and alive.

Finally arrived at the place where the battle took place, Sphinx tried to search for the young nun. The cat went to all the locations he could get to.

Eventually, he discovered a figure walking by behind a thick layer of dust and smoke. The cat hurriedly went over and he stopped dead in his track, growling.

It was Kamijou Touma.

He was right there, he tilted his head a little as he saw the cat observed him while making a low guttural sound of hostility.

His owner can't no longer be trust, he was the cause of all this.

"Grrrr…"

Seeing Sphinx, Kamijou didn't make any movement at all, he just stared at his pet.

The expression his face was making was unreadable, more than passive and less emotional. A moment later, that boy kept walking down the road in silence and disappeared.

The calico walked the opposite way and it didn't take long for him to find the young nun Index. Within his view, he saw her.

She was lying in between ton of rough fragment of concretes that fell out from nearby houses.

"Nya~!"

Sphinx meowed, an attempt to call out to his care taker that he was coming. He didn't know if the girl heard it or not, she didn't move.

The cat stopped right next to her.

Her eyes closed, her habit was tattered and covered in dust. A trail of red liquid can be seen gliding down her face and it has already dried. Around her small neck, a pair of handprint can be seen but Sphinx didn't pay much attention to it, he called her as he kept meowing.

The calico cat tried to lick her hands in hope she would open her eyes and wake up. But there was no respond, there was no reaction from Index.

The girl was sleeping, yet the sound of a gentle lullaby didn't come.

Sphinx thought it like that and he changed to a new tactic, the cat moved closer to her face and touched her cold cheek with its paw.

The cat tried anything, then again nothing he did could make Index opened her eyes.

The young nun wouldn't wake up any time soon.

And probably, she never will…

 **[2,956,327,403,471]**

* * *

 **Author's note: What do you think?**

 **The whole chapter was told through Sphinx's point of view about the unexplainable nightmare that ruins his world. That calico cat was the closest to him and Index so I decided to explore that connection between him and the boy first.**

 **The next chapter could be based on someone else view and could be chapter 01 so I guess we just have to wait and find out for that.**

 **That's all, review this chapter if you please. I'll see you in the next note.**


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